All around the country, in stadiums stretching from Baltimore to far out west, illegal helmet-to-helmet hits caused reflexive twitches. On one ugly Sunday, there might have been more punches thrown and dirty deeds committed than we normally witness in a month, but that’s what happens when the kids take advantage of substitute teachers.

That’s why the injury that knocked Darrelle Revis out for the season and put a massive dent in the New York Jets’ grand plan is so confounding. He wasn’t the victim of a tackle gone wrong; a teeth-rattling collision didn’t cause him to suffer an ACL tear in his left knee.

Can’t blame it on artificial turf, or dodgy playing conditions, or a Miami Dolphin receiver trying to pull a fast one over the overwhelmed replacement officials. When Revis flew over center while trying to defend a screen pass with about four minutes left in the third quarter of a hideous game the New York Jets would eventually win in overtime, it was as if an invisible hand swooped in to claw at his leg.

Just like that, the sport’s best cover cornerback was done. Tripped up by a freakish non-contact injury. All the giddy hype floating around the J-E-T-S disappeared in a puff.

As it was, the Jets’ medical team had been watching Revis extra close, wary of him doing anything that might muddle his brain. Another freakish injury had forced him to miss the previous game, after a collision with his own teammate in Week 1 left Revis concussed. Without Revis in Pittsburgh the Jets were forced into utilizing more zone coverage than usual and, not coincidentally, the Steelers picked them apart with systemic alacrity.

With the All-Pro Revis tying up Dolphins receiver Davone Bess on Sunday and eliminating huge swaths of the field, Bess had only one catch for 23 yards in the first 40 minutes. Upon Revis’ departure, Bess pulled in four receptions for 63 yards. It was possible to see Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s eyes bulge as the field suddenly, magically expanded.

Just as opposing defenses must devote large amounts of time to preparing for what Tim Tebow MIGHT do out of the wildcat – and so far it hasn’t been anything that knocks the socks off -- offenses had to game plan around the intimidating force known as Revis Island.

With him, it was as if the Jets enjoyed a mystical advantage of 12 guys on defense, their blitzes seldom risky because of Revis locking down the fort. With him, in the 88 plays he’s been on the field, the Jets have allowed a 54 percent completion rate, 5.4 yards per pass attempt and one measly touchdown sandwiched around four interceptions. With him, Rex Ryan’s brash talk of this being his best team since coming on board had a ring of truth.

Without Revis, the rate of completions skyrocketed to 62 percent, with opponents teaming for 7.6 yards per pass attempt, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Without Revis, without their backbone, the Jets will scramble to make the playoffs.

They’re 2-1 and in first place in the AFC East, but the next two weeks are brutal – San Francisco and then Houston come to visit – and the only guarantee is that Kyle Wilson is going to have to perfect the art of turning around.

Wilson, the former top pick, moves into the starting lineup, next to Antonio Cromartie, a capable corner who goes from defending an opponent’s No. 2 receiver to trying to shut down the No 1. Interestingly, Cromartie tore his ACL in college, missed a year and now sometimes doesn’t appear to cut as sharply as he should while defending certain receivers on some routes.

Looking as glum as a man who had found a penny but lost a fortune, Ryan reached for historical spins Monday after announcing he had lost his favorite defensive player. He referenced the time the Baltimore Ravens, his former team, suffered a string of injuries, yet still reached the 2008 AFC Championship Game. Ryan also spoke about the 1985 Chicago Bears, a team that hadn’t any superstar defensive backs but that nonetheless morphed into one of the greatest defenses ever under the tutelage of Buddy, the genius patriarch of the Ryan clan.

Any comparison to those harassing Bears should end there, with the family ties. These Jets have only three sacks and just 10 hits on quarterbacks. Even with Revis controlling receivers in single coverage, the Jets have struggled to close the gaps and stop the run.

"Maybe we play some opponents differently," Ryan said. "There are different ways to skin a cat. Obviously, we can't take away their best receiver with one guy, but we'll find a way."

He wisely steered clear of drawing from another analogy from another sport. Last spring Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls suffered a comparable injury when he tore the ACL in his left knee while trying to jump. There went the Bulls’ glorious season, cut short in one cruel second.

Because the Jets always seem to belly flop into the absurd, the shock of them losing the one player they simply can’t afford to be without wasn’t the only hot button on this fateful day. Following the Jets’ 23-20 OT victory Sunday, linebacker Calvin Pace had an interesting take on Reggie Bush, the Miami running back who left the game with a knee injury late in the second quarter.

“I guess he was doing his thing for a quarter or two. We had to put him on out. We didn’t see him again,” Pace had said, comments that followed Ryan’s joke from earlier in the week that his players would "Put some hot sauce on (Bush), if you will."

So there was Pace Monday, in the gloom of the latest shattering news, clarifying that he wasn’t taking tips from the New Orleans Saints.

“I wasn’t trying to say it as if we were trying to hurt him,” Pace said of Bush. “I’m sad to see him get hurt. We aren’t running any kind of bounty system or anything like that, and actually, looking at the play, somebody just fell on his knee. That’s all I have to say. I guess I need to say things in a different manner, and I’ll do a better job of it next time.”

Revis will have surgery within the next three weeks, when the tissue is healthier, and his desire to rework a contract extension that would make him one of the league’s highest paid players figures to be in limbo. It’s such a sudden reversal from just a few days ago, when the concussion symptoms had abated and doctors cleared him to suit up against Miami.

Asked Friday if he had been told to take it easy, Revis grinned and said: “No, I can bang my head on the wall if I want to.”

Who could have predicted the invisible hand swooping in? Who would have guessed the Jets’ fate would be altered so silently, their brash talk dying as soon as Revis crumbled to the grass.